When comparing spectrwm vs IceWM, the Slant community recommends spectrwm for most people. In the question“What are the best window managers for Linux?”spectrwm is ranked 8th while IceWM is ranked 11th. The most important reason people chose spectrwm is:

Spectrwm behaves largely like Xmonad (which is a good thing) without the ~700 MB GHC dependency and with plain text config files

Pros

Pro

like Xmonad light

Spectrwm behaves largely like Xmonad (which is a good thing) without the ~700 MB GHC dependency and with plain text config files

Pro

Has a plain-text config file that it can reload while it's running

The config file can be reloaded while the WM is running, allowing the user to see the results of editing the config without logging out and back in again.

Pro

Sane defaults

Inspired by xmonad and dwm, spectrwm has defaults that any normal user would enjoy rather than using an odd language or asymmetric window layouts.

Pro

Straight-forward

Contains a basic set of options and doesn't require a language to configure it.

Pro

Great for beginners

The defaults, simple design, and plain text config file make spectrwm a fantastic WM for those who aren't that familiar with Haskell, for example, and who just wish to get something substantial up and running.